Tennis: Andy Murray hit by bad weather in Australia

ANDY MURRAY yesterday joined the growing list of players whose Australian Open preparations have been hampered by the unseasonal weather as rain continued to mar the build-up to the first grand slam of the year.

ANDY MURRAY yesterday joined the growing list of players whose Australian Open preparations have been hampered by the unseasonal weather as rain continued to mar the build-up to the first grand slam of the year.

Compared to the devastating floods that have hit Queensland, Melbourne has not been badly affected, but the conditions have proved a challenge.

Murray had planned to repeat the warm-up schedule that served him so well last year – playing in the Hopman Cup with Laura Robson and then an exhibition match at Kooyong a few days before the start of the tournament.

But the Scot’s meeting with Marin Cilic, who he beat in the semi-finals in Melbourne 12 months ago, fell victim to the rain yesterday.

The match was outside the Kooyong Classic itself, and tournament director Colin Stubs said: “Precedence has to go to the matches of the players who signed up. Andy didn’t.”

The rain also meant the second day of Australian Open qualifying was washed out – the first time a whole day’s play has been lost to the weather since the tournament moved to Melbourne Park in 1988.

British trio Anne Keothavong, Heather Watson and Katie O’Brien were all scheduled to play their first-round matches. Second seed Keothavong takes on Belarusian Darya Kustova, while O’Brien faces Mandy Minella and teenager Watson will play Kristina Mladenovic.